"I told Cathy I had a match but she wasn't having any of it. She said it was a friendly and that I had to help her.
"Cathy has actually saved me from making a difficult choice.
"My father played for Glentoran but I also have close associations with Dunfermline, where I played the best football of my career before my transfer to Glasgow Rangers."
The Guardian:
Ferguson is sending a representative XI including Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Owen Hargreaves to play in Scott Thompson's testimonial at Dunfermline, while a second team involving Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Nani and Anderson will be in Belfast to face Glentoran.
Carlos Tevez was ruled out of the Dunfermline game as the Premier League continued to process his registration and the prospects of him lining up against Reading on Sunday appear to be receding.
With West Ham United not receiving payment of their £2m out-of-court settlement from Media Sports Investment until yesterday, the Premier League was sent Tevez's registration documents only in the afternoon.
Dunfermline chairman John Yorkston:
"Sir Alex is friendly with a number of people in the Dunfermline area and they approached him to bring a team up here for Scott's game.
"It was a nice gesture by Sir Alex - although he had always threatened to come back and give us a beating!
"The Manchester United squad isn't finalised yet but we were told that a number of big names will be coming up so it will be great for the fans to see players like Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Owen Hargreaves."